How to build a resilient mindset
Developing resiliency across an organization is a three-step process that begins with leaders.
Executive summary
- By having a strong sense of purpose, opportunities and threats become more manageable for leaders.
- Maintaining a realistic, positive outlook can help entrepreneurs overcome perceived barriers and achieve long-term business goals.
These days, uncertainty is unavoidable. So how do top entrepreneurs lead with confidence during uncertain times? With a resilient mindset. This means adapting to and processing challenges, using healthy coping strategies, and staying flexible to internal and external demands, as defined by the American Psychological Association.1
“Building a resilient mindset, team and culture is a three-step process, and it starts with the leader,” says Heidi Grant, EY Americas Director of Research and Development in Learning. “Cultivating a resilient mindset is possible if you use the right tools.”
3 steps to a resilient mindset
Source: Heidi Grant, EY Americas Director of Research and Development in Learning
-
1. The self: finding your ‘why’.
To get started on the road to a resilient mindset, Grant says it’s vital for leaders to analyze their sense of purpose — why they show up to work. When a leader is tied to a strong sense of purpose, opportunities and threats become more manageable. Although finding such purpose is critical, it’s easy to forget when times get rocky. According to Grant’s research, the brain normally runs on autopilot while its working memory makes usual decisions under regular circumstances. But this can be overcome with the right tools.
Source: “Is Your Threat Brain Always On?,” Psychology Today, November 30, 2020.
When uncertainty hits, working memory shrinks. Leaders lose sight of the bigger picture, and the result is collective thinking at a lower level and lower levels of resilience. One way to overcome this is to pull back and hone your sense of purpose.
Heidi GrantEY Americas Director of Research and Development in LearningOvercoming threat brain
Threat brain is an enemy of resilience. Building a resilient outlook depends on how a leader personally frames situations or setbacks. A positive, but realistic, outlook can help overcome perceived barriers and achieve even the most ambitious long-term business goals.
A commitment to the long term is what drove Sheila Mikhail, cofounder and former CEO, AskBio, and EY Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2021 National Overall Award winner, to rescue a multimillion-dollar funding package — without letting instincts take over. “The night before closing a $240 million deal, everything collapsed,” says Mikhail. “I had six weeks of cash flow, $3 million in legal fees, and 180 employees to consider. … With a focus on our long-term purpose … we successfully renegotiated.”
You always mitigate risks with a backup plan.
Sheila MikhailCofounder and former CEO, AskBio; EY Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2021 National Overall Award winner -
2. The team: encouraging diverse ideas.
When leaders embrace a growth mindset, it ripples throughout the organization. When everyone feels welcome, the potential positive impact is far-reaching. Reinforcing collective purpose and individual self-worth fosters team-wide resilience. Key actions leaders can take are to implement diversity at every level in the organization, ensure all team members feel validated, and encourage a realistic, yet positive, mindset when facing uncertainty. “You can build a resilient culture in an organization by laying foundations for psychological safety and encouraging a ‘culture of growth’ mindset, where people feel the company believes in their ability to develop and grow,” says Grant. “Leaders should make everyone feel validated, feel safe to make mistakes, feel safe to speak up. Everyone should feel safe to be their authentic selves when they come to work each day.”
Diverse teams that feel engaged and included are:
Before she started the FinTech firm Stax, former CEO Suneera Madhani felt overlooked. She had pitched the idea for the company to managers at a previous job, but it wasn’t greenlit. Rather than letting a negative outlook take hold, she continued pursuing her dream. Madhani cofounded Stax in 2014, and the company has since achieved unicorn status. Today, Madhani helps clear the path to entrepreneurship for others by advocating for supportive work environments that welcome diversity of thought.
I never had a seat at the table. When the room looks nothing like you, you feel judged or like you have to prove yourself even further. For the women out there, make sure your voices and ideas are heard. For everyone, make sure that the conversation is equitable.
Suneera MadhaniCofounder and former CEO, Stax -
3. The culture: integrating resilience strategies.
When a resilient organization can withstand uncertainty, its potential is limitless. Leaders must remember that strategies for cultivating resilience should not be reserved for leadership or specific teams, but rather for the whole enterprise; they should be implemented across HR, operations and logistics, finance, and more. But EY research shows that business leaders’ focus on resilience is currently low and dips further as a project progresses.
Source: Getting Real About Resilience
Actions for a resilient workforce
Resilience is crucial to entrepreneurial leadership and should be re-evaluated regularly. The EY Enterprise Resilience Tool offers support across nine business areas, including employee well-being, workforce development and risk management. In today’s rapidly changing landscape, leaders can take these concrete actions to encourage stability.
At the end of the day, resilience is a very learnable skill. It’s about learning to control your emotions, focusing your thinking in positive ways, and not ruminating on things going badly. You can build your resilience, and you can build a resilient culture across an organization.
Heidi GrantEY Americas Director of Research and Development in Learning
